Lady Gaga Proves Geek Camp Is Cool

Back when Lady Gaga was just a girl from New York named Stefani Germanotta, she might have been seen as a geek. Just as a select group of gifted kids do today, she spent three weeks of summer in an intense learning program that offered classes on everything from math to robots to monsters.

Gaga, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and Google’s Sergey Brin are all alumni of the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at Johns Hopkins University. CTY and the Duke Talent Identification Program (TIP) are two of the most well-known highly selective programs that have given rise to high-achieving adults.

“Being labeled as ‘gifted’ as a middle school student is a social kiss of death,” said Dr. Alison Stuebe, an alumna of the Duke TIP program, which had its largest season ever in 2010 with more than 3,100 students. “To go to a place where, rather than that being a liability, was actually a reason you got to go at all, was just a transforming experience,” she said.

There is a misperception that talented youths get what they need in school. In fact, regular school classes don’t always allow these kids to reach their full potential, said Brian Cooper, TIP’s director of domestic educational programs. Summer sessions like TIP’s are needed more and more because in tough economic times, schools are cutting programs for gifted students, he said.

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